Now that card check legislation has been formally introduced in Congress, the arguments on both sides are coming into focus. One of the most puzzling claims that card check supporters repeat over and over is that workers are somehow being victimized today by secret ballot elections, because employers pressure them to vote no on joining a union. This claim has never made much sense. If workers are ... Read more »
Recognizing that small businesses are critical to the American economy, the White House today hosted a conference on small businesses in which the Obama administration outlined new plans purportedly aimed at helping small businesses weather the economic storm. What the administration failed to mention, however, is that one of the greatest threats to small businesses today is the one-two punch of h... Read more »
A press release issued this week by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters took many people by surprise with its overt attack on the principle of the secret ballot. After all, supporters of the undemocratic card check plan – which replaces secret ballot voting with a public sign-up process that opens workers to intimidation and coercion – have been working overtime trying to convince the Ameri... Read more »
The misnamed Employee Free Choice Act may have been formally introduced in Congress yesterday, but introduction should not be confused with momentum. In fact, the bill’s formal unveiling has been somewhat of a dud, drawing fewer congressional supporters than it did two years ago, when it was last considered. In 2007, EFCA boasted 233 cosponsors in the House and 46 in the Senate. This year, the fig... Read more »
Earlier today, Democrats formally introduced the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would replace federally-supervised secret ballot elections with a public sign-up process that opens workers up to public pressure, intimidation, coercion, and retribution. Introduction of the legislation was carefully timed to follow a hearing in the U.S. Senate designed to make the case for this undemo... Read more »
Congressional Democrats are reportedly preparing to introduce their misnamed Employee Free Choice Act tomorrow, setting in motion a legislative gambit that would effectively eliminate secret ballots in the workplace. This anti-worker plan has already drawn the ire of editorial writers, economists, and the American people. Now, on what looks to be the eve of the bill’s formal introduction in Congre... Read more »
A majority of Americans – 74 percent, to be precise – think the card check process for publicly disclosing workers’ votes on whether to join a union is a bad idea. Now, our neighbors to the north are weighing in as well. A columnist for the Calgary Herald today spelled out in great detail the anti-worker consequences if a card check scheme is imposed on the American workforce. It’s a subject Canad... Read more »
The claims by card check supporters that their plan would strengthen the economy have always been dubious. After all, the best way to strengthen the economy in the current downturn is to create jobs – and the card check plan does nothing to spur job growth. But now, it has become clear that the card check plan – which takes away workers’ right to vote by secret ballot on whether to join a union – ... Read more »
Opposition to the anti-worker card check plan among editorial boards and opinion leaders is well documented. And it’s no surprise. After all, the card check legislation—deceptively dubbed the Employee Free Choice Act, despite the fact that it takes away employees’ free choice through a secret ballot—is fundamentally undemocratic, something the American people don’t take lightly. However, it’s not ... Read more »
Nearly two months after Democrats convened the 111th Congress and began outlining their policy goals for the coming session, their decision not to introduce the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act is conspicuous, to say the least. The legislation is better known as card check, because it forces workers to vote publicly, by signing or refusing to sign their name to an authorization card, on whether t... Read more »
